To the Editor:

Re: “To Debate Evolution Is To Appear Nutty — Why?,” Opinion, Oct. 5

The author’s effort to find common ground between “liberal moderns” and “fundamentalists” is admirable but misguided. Those who believe that worth objectively attaches to human beings due to their belief in a creator are in a fundamental sense not in accord with the beliefs of “liberal moderns.” The latter assign affirmative value, whereas the former assign value “in spite of.”

What does that mean to me? The “liberal modern” view says to each individual, “You are valuable,” without exception or qualification. The fundamentalist (and usually religious) view says to each person, “You are valuable, in spite of the fact that you are gay, a minority, a woman, old or something else.” The fundamentalist, then, rather than affirming the value of each human being, holds up his own superiority over the person valued because of his own point of view. The liberal modern simply values other human beings by choice, without any tacit implication of self-superiority. No wonder we cannot get along.

Francis Sohn, law